Maximum Length Limit for a Macro

Summary: Make your macros too long, and Excel may just refuse to run them at all. This tip explains what the limit is for macros, and provides some guidance on how you can get around the limit. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, Excel 2003, and Excel 2007.)

Vasant has written a very long macro in Excel—over 1,400 lines. When he tries to run the macro, Excel refuses to run it and says that it is too long.

Excel apparently has a limit on VBA code such that you cannot have more than 64K of compiled code in a single procedure. The solution to this problem is to chop up your long macro into shorter procedures. For instance, you might divide your monster macro into, say, a dozen smaller macros. You can make the smaller macros Private instead of Public (so they don't show up in the Macros list in Excel), and then call them sequentially from a "controller" macro.

When you separate your code into individual procedures, make sure that each separate procedure has all loops and logic self contained. Also make sure that any variables used in more than one procedure are declared as global variables so they are accessible by all the procedures.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3174) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

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Maximum Length Limit for a Macro